Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Water Resources, Hon. Sada Soli, has played down the opposition to the reintroduced Water Resources Bill, saying it won’t change the determination of the legislature to pass it.
He also criticised opponents of the bill, including Benue State Governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, and Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, whom he accused of speaking out of ignorance because they did not read the draft of the legislation before making comments.
The lawmaker, who represents Jibia/Kaita Federal Constituency in Katsina State, vowed that the bill, which was earlier passed by the eighth House, won’t be stepped down.
The legislation titled: ‘A Bill for An Act to Establish a Regulatory Framework for the Water Resources Sector in Nigeria, Provide for the Equitable and Sustainable Redevelopment, Management, Use and Conservation of Nigeria’s Surface Water and Groundwater Resources and for Related Matter,’ when passed into law, would bring all water sources under the control of the federal government. This has led to criticisms as various stakeholders have said the bill negates the right of Nigerians to natural resources and undermines the country’s federalism.
Prominent leaders from Southern Nigeria and the Middle Belt, including Ortom and Soyinka, have kicked against the bill.
Also, socio-political organisations, including PANDEF, Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo, have condemned the bill, saying it’s an attempt by the federal government to secure the lands around the rivers in southern Nigeria to resettle the herdsmen after the failed Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) initiative.
Ortom had said the provisions of the bill were at variance with the Land Use Act, and that the bill was a “disguised land-grabbing legislation designed to grant pastoralists unhindered access to river basins, adjacent marine and coastal environments across the country.”
With the bill providing for the federal government to annex the banks of rivers that connect up to two states, concerns have been raised that the purpose of the promoters of the bill is to provide land for the herdsmen.